Panic on the streets of London

The newer, shinier, War against Terror was introduced by Gordon Brown over the weekend, and by a Metropolitan police poster campaign .

Mr Brown's article is by turns depressing and hysterical:

We should be under no illusion, however, that the biggest security threat to our country and other countries is the murderous agents of hate that work under the banner of al-Qaida

The preparation of ordinary citizens who have been co-opted, or "trained and equipped", to deal with problems looks very, er, National Socialist. In any other sphere of crime prevention, this would be, quite rightly, regarded as vigilantism.

What has led the New Labour think tanks to come up with this stuff? I will assume, for charitable reasons, that there is more to it than "because they are cunts".

The government fears losing the reigns of power if another terrorist incident occurs. Even a temporary blip will be magnified during the G20 summit or the London 2012 games. By pre-booking the fear response, they hope people will give them credit for being on a known track should the worst occur.

You might think that a better way to avoid panic is just to lead by example, as opposed to resetting the clock back to 1984. But from an administrative point of view, that may not be an option.

The economic downturn is beginning to undermine the assumption of authority that the incumbent establishment usually has. If stuff just works, there are few reasons to ask questions. But the sudden onset of poverty tends to focus the mind. Yeah, just like hanging does.

And on top of this, the net is providing a ready source of alternative narratives as to why things are as they are - few of the 700 replies to Mr Brown's article are supportive.

Economic collapse. Terrorism. Alternatives.

Outside of alarmist films, most of us settled in the west have little experience with extreme situations. The governments deepest fear is that people will swing wildly between ugly nationalism and dysfunctional behaviour - leaving society kaput. There have been moments in the last few months that hint at this.

None of the above justifies the fear pimping because, ultimately, the governments job is to protect society as it is - not to subvert it to taste.

During the original Irish terrorist troubles, open propaganda was limited to functional reminders not to stop tube trains in tunnels. It was supposed that people did not require the state to fill in the blanks - the history between the English and Irish is twisted, but well documented.

But there were strange moments. Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, was subject to a ban on the media broadcast of his voice - in the belief that he had Svengali like hypnotic powers. Laughable today, but that is what panic does. We now know that an awful lot of things were done in our name that we had no idea about - but in most cases they were focused on dealing with the IRA, not selling Double Think.

This may be a way point to further measures, or just the stuttering of a leadership running out of ways to look serious. Either way, prepare for a long hot Summer of Rage.